


The Deep End

by lexnbish



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Crying, David Acting as Max's Parental Figure | Dadvid (Camp Camp), Fear, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, NO MAXVID U SICK FUCK, Panic Attacks, Phobias, Swearing, dadvid, fear of water, thalassophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25131814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexnbish/pseuds/lexnbish
Summary: Max has Thalassophobia (fear of water) and David takes the campers out to the deepest part of Lake Lilac. It doesn't end well. *art included :)*
Relationships: David & Max (Camp Camp), Max & Nikki (Camp Camp)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 152





	The Deep End

**Author's Note:**

> sorry in advance I dont know lots about panic attacks.  
> I thought itd be cool for Max to have thalassophobia since he can't swim (I also have it and cetaphobia which is a fear of whales)  
> also sorry if it gets worse as u go i finished this during an all nighter. enjoy! also please leave suggestions for later one shots in the comments :)

In Max's opinion, Camp Campbell was the definition of hell. Satan's crack den. The place where dreams go to die. He dramatically referred to camp like that a lot but today, he wasn't exaggerating.

"Can you fucking BELIEVE David?!" Max screamed to his friends while hesitantly slumping towards the dock.

"I mean... we all knew this day was coming max," Neil stated matter-of-factly, "and besides, we all know the only reason you don't want to do this is because you can't sw-" Max cut him off with a loud cough.

"What part of 'don't mention it ever or I'll sell you to Russian human traffickers'  **DON'T** YOU UNDERSTAND NEIL!"

The pale boy rolled his eyes and continued walking.

-

"Alrighty! Are all my favorite campers here?" David's eyes curiously scanned the hoard of kids and noticed a small, blue-hooded figure sneaking away from the group. "Max!"

A quietly mumbled 'mother fucker' was heard from the boy before he slipped back into the crowd. David gave him the best 'disappointed' face he could muster.

"Max, just for your little escape plan right now, you're now going to be in my boat so I can keep my eye on you." A slightly louder 'motherfucker' was then heard from amongst the crowd. 

The camp counselor announced the groups with his 'too happy to be real' tone but Max was only half listening. Anxiety built up in his chest. His palms were sweating and his mind raced with every bad scenario (which was usually Neil's thing). Max was usually level headed and a massive risk-taker but when the black depths of hell known as 'The Deep End of Lake Lilac' becomes apart of the equation, it's a massive fuck no. He'd gone out on the lake loads of times. Would his throat still tighten each time? Yeah, no shit, but he had an image to uphold as the stoic sociopath so he sucked it up. But, those waters he'd been on was nothing compared to the void called the deep end. And you know what put the cherry atop the sundae? Max can't swim. 

"...ax? Max." He snapped out of his spiraling mental state for a second to listen to David.

"What the fuck did you say? I zoned out." David gave Max another look of disapproval but those looks never worked on the camper. David knew that but tried anyway.

"I said you and Nikki are in my boat."

Nodding reluctantly, Max head towards their death raft, trying his best to swallow any anxieties.

"Hey, Max! Do you think we'll find a megalodon in the deep end?" Nikki said before going on a verbal rampage about cryptid sea monsters and asked him questions similar to if he thought she could 'tame Nessie'. This didn't help his state.

"David... why the actual fuck are you taking us to the deep end anyway? It's pretty much equivalent to satan's glory hole." Max asked hesitantly climbing into the boat. David looked at the camper with a sparkle in his shamrock eyes.

"Well! I'm glad you asked!" The auburn-haired counselor spoke with an unnatural amount of exuberance. "There's an ancient Sleepy Peak legend about The Deep End. According to the tale, there's a GIANT eel-like creature that lives inside the hole. They call it... Anantashesha." Nikki's face lit up with excitement while Max looked visibly worried. He knew it wasn't real. It wasn't. But, he knew the paranoia was about to kick in once they were out on the water. Fuck.

-

Max tried to hide his shuddering in his over-sized blue hood while Nikki and David paddled out to The Deep End. He was starting to calm down a bit. The camper's heart was still beating faster and faster by the second but it was getting better. Well, it WAS getting better until the boat started slightly tipping on one side. That was Nikki's fault.

"HOLY COW! DAVID, LOOK AT THAT FISH!" She yelled despite them sitting right next to her. The excited camper lunged at the left side of the boat, gripping the slippery edges, to get a better look at the fish. The boat got dangerously close to the water. Max went pale.

"Nikki don't fucking do that shit. You're gonna tip the boat over." He said trying to hide the fear in his voice. Nikki gave a sly smirk.

"Oh! Is our favorite emotionless hellraiser scared of some water?" Her mocking tone riled him up.

" **No!** I just don't want to get my hoodie wet  **OKAY** ?!" Max replied. A grim smile crept along her face. This wasn't going to be good.

"Soooo... you wouldn't mind me doing... THIS?!" Nikki grabs the sides of the boat and starts violently shaking it from side to side. Water sprayed into the boat. His throat closed up again while he sat frozen, hoping no one noticed the way his eyes were starting to water. ' _ Fuck my image _ '. Max thought, ' _ Anything's better than having a panic attack in front of David... and Nikki. But mostly David. _ ' He knew that the camp counselor would make a massive fucking deal out of it. He didn't want that shit. Also, if they fell out? Max would probably drown or even worse... would have to take swimming lessons with  _ David _ . So, he made a fucking  **scene** .

"NIKKI  **WHAT THE FUCK! STOP** DOING THAT SHIT OR THEY'LL NEVER FIND YOUR  **FUCKING** BODY! DO YOU  **WANT** YOUR ORGANS HARVESTED ON THE DARK WEB?! BECAUSE I HAVE  **ENOUGH** BLACKMAIL ON NEIL FOR HIM TO **DO IT FOR ME!** YOU'RE A  **FUCKING CU** \- " David cut him off.

"Max, what has gotten into you? I haven't seen you insult someone like this since that time I forced you to go to your tent after you almost blew up the mess hall!"

Nikki gave a conniving smirk towards her fellow camper. Of course, she wasn't phased by Max's comments but, she still thought she could cause something chaotic to happen. Also, she kinda wanted revenge for him 'accidentally' pushing her off a boulder yesterday. Max just glared in return to Nikki's threatening expression.

He didn't know what to say which was kind of unnatural for him. He resorted to his usual response of "Fuck off  _ David. _ " It did the trick.

"Max," Nikki started, "I thought nothing scared you? You said it yourself." She was right. He had said that. 

' _ Shit. _ ' 

The camper started playing with his hoodie's dark blue cuffs nervously while his throat decided to tightened a bit more. He coughed to try to rid the pressure but he thinks it made it worse. ' _ Don't have a panic attack in front of David. _ ' It really didn't help that he just realized he was facing two of his deepest fears. The vast emptiness of deep water and... showing emotion. Nikki was right... but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Especially after that stunt.

"And it's  **true** ." Max said in the best 'badass' voice he could muster at that moment. "Nothing scares me." 

He heard someone screaming something behind him. It was from Preston. 

"DAVID! I THINK I SAW THE SHADOW OF THE ANANTASH-WHATEVER IT'S CALLED BENEATH MY BOAT!" 

' _ Fuck. Fuck. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK _ ' 

"WHERE!" Nikki, once again, lunged herself to the left side of the boat then to the right to try find the shadow which made the boat create, once again, the motion of a homicidal see-saw. The boat almost tipped this time.

' _ FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCK'  _

Max couldn't fucking take it. ' _ There's nowhere to goddamn run to. Perfect. Fucking Perfect, _ ' He thought. ' _ Keep it together Ma-' _

Something bumped into their boat.

' _ Fuck. _ '

The camper pulled off his mask of 'not giving a shit' and smashed it on the boat floor. His vision was blurry. Grabbing onto the first thing he could feel, Max hung on for dear life. He didn't even care at this point who or what it was, he just wanted to feel safe enough for Satan to disappear from his throat.

"Space kid, learn how to paddle a goddamn boat," Nikki said unimpressed. "Amateur."

_ ‘Wait… it was just space kid?’ _

Max slowly opened his eyes that were previously glued shut. The first thing he noticed was a muted green color of a shirt.

' _ Fuck. _ '

Then a pale arm. Then a yellow scarf and then two pairs of shamrock eyes staring down at him.

"Fuck." Max said it out loud for once.

"Max... what's wrong?" David knew something was up. From the sudden outburst at Nikki to the way Max clung to his arm, he was certain something was wrong.

"Fuck." the camper stated again, "fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck." 

Nowhere to run to and no way in hell he’d cry in front of David. Well, there was a way in hell but he just didn’t want to.

“Max, talk to me.” The counselor pried again.

_ ‘FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK’ _

He felt tears. 

_ ‘Fuck.’ _

Crying. The one thing he didn’t want to do. In his peripheral, he saw how David’s eyes were like saucers and how the colour drained from Nikki’s expression. Max felt his face heat up and tears race down his cheeks but, as bad as the situation was, the feeling of Satan's hands strangling his throat was going away. 

“Max, whats wr-”

“I CAN’T FUCKING SWIM CAMP MAN!” The camper backed himself as far as he could into the boat’s left corner and tried to calm himself down.

David didn’t know what to say. Looking around, he saw that none of the other campers really noticed the outburst, which was good, but he knew it wouldn’t be long until they did.

He didn’t want to scare or embarrass the boy but he definitely didn’t want to neglect his feelings either. Max was a complicated kid and the camp counselor knew this very well. Especially after parents day. Max started hyperventilating.  _ ‘Wait,’ _ David thought,  _ ‘Was he having a panic attack?’  _ He had to say something to calm him down fast or it would catch the attention of the other campers and he knew Max would hate that.

“Nikki… could you paddle us away from the group?” She nodded and started to move the boat farther away from the hoard of novice cryptid hunters.

The boat started rocking a bit with little waves which made Max jump and freak out more. At this point, the boy was nearly completely engulfed in his hoodie with his knees pulled closely to his heaving chest.

“Max,” David started, “Are you okay?”

The boy, somehow, seemed to curl further in on himself and muttered something in between sobs.

“What was that?”

Max lifted his head from his knees to reveal two wet, jade eyes.

“I’m too old to be crying over fucking water.” He says slurring most of his words.

David suddenly realised that the fact the boy couldn’t swim wasn’t the reason he’s crying.

“Hey. You're 10 and you’re allowed to cry. You can cry at any age and it’s fine.”

Max looked away.

“Dad always said I was too old and-” the counselor cut him off at the mention of the boy’s dad.

“Max… you’re allowed to be a kid.”

The camper slumped back, wiping his eyes and cheeks. At that point, Max had tired himself out and the incoherent sobbing had then quieted to sniffles and heavy breathing.

“Okay David.” The boy gave his counselor a half smile and then turned to Nikki.

“‘M sorry for saying I’d sell your organs on the dark web Nik.” He said wringing his fingers together nervously.

She smiled back and this time it wasn’t a scheming smirk.

“No, I’m sorry Max.” She admitted, “I shouldn’t have freaked you out even though I knew about your crippling fear of the ocean ‘n stuff.” At that, David turned to face Max again.

“You never told me about your thalassophobia Max? Or that you can’t swim.” The red head questioned. The small boy looked at David with a curious gaze.

“What’s thalassophobia?” The camper said, still with a slight tremble in his voice.

It was times like this that David remembered how young Max really was. Sure, seeing him sobbing in a small boat in the middle of a lake was something but the camper always tried to act a lot older than he really was. Perhaps he just grew up too fast. But, despite the constant swearing and the fact that he knew way too much for his age, he still had a lot to learn and that brought a soft smile to the camp counselor’s face.

“It means that you’re scared of deep bodies of water and the things that may lurk inside it.” David simply explained placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “It could also be that you're scared of the vast emptiness of it and how vulnerable you are while in it.”

Max nodded in understanding.

“Okay... can we go back to shore now?” He asked wiping the last remains of tears from his face.

“Sure kiddo.”

Nikki started paddling frantically like a baby dolphin on ketamine while David did it carefully to not mess with the stability of the boat.

-

They were finally back on land. While David and Nikki were putting away the ‘death raft’, Max knew there was one thing he needed now. Although he hated physical contact, he really needed a hug. He’d embarrassed himself enough today but he didn’t think this would top his mental breakdown. So he walked over to the duo.

“Hey guys?” the camper stared at the ground, avoiding their questioning looks.

_ ‘Here goes nothing.’ _

He quickly wrapped his arms around the two. Nikki screamed something along the lines of “GROUP HUG!” and immediately returned the embrace. After David’s initial shock that Max was showing affection, he hugged back and smiled.

A couple moments later, Max let’s go.

“Ok if ANY OF YOU tell ANYONE ABOUT THIS I WILL KILL YOU BOTH.”

The two smiled at him and said, “Okay Max,”  _ nearly _ in sync.

“Also,” David started putting his hands on his hips, “You’re gonna have to take swimming lessons with me now.”

Max’s face dropped.

“Fuck.”

*below's just some art i did for the fic and its kinda trash bc i had to rush it but ye :)*


End file.
